ASU’s controversial ‘Whiteness’ class returns
ASU's “Problem of Whiteness” class gained national attention in January. It's returning for the spring semester
The Arizona State University course on “Whiteness” that gained national attention in January is returning for the spring semester.
ASU English professor Lee Bebout’s 18-person class, called "U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness," was singled out by Fox News commentators, targeted online by White-supremacist groups and spurred small protests and counterprotests in Tempe.
It is returning as “Whiteness and U.S. Race Theory” and, this time, is open to 38 students come January.
“Apart from the headache outside the classroom, inside the classroom it was one of the best classes I’ve ever taught,” Bebout said during a phone interview Friday.
“I originally thought to offer the class every two or three years, but once everything happened last (academic) year, I was like, ‘Obviously, it’s a class that’s needed. Let’s offer it every year.’ ”
What happened last spring
The class received national attention Jan. 23 when Fox News correspondent Elisabeth Hasselbeck called the course "quite unfair, and wrong and pointed" on "Fox & Friends."
Lauren Clark, an ASU junior who was not in the class or the English program, said on the show that the class "suggests an entire race is the problem."
The segment ignited a media frenzy and landed the university in the middle of a debate about race, political correctness and academic freedom. Bebout began receiving hate mail the day it aired, according to a police report.
Why he changed the name
Bebout initially named the new class "Disrupting Whiteness" but, by Friday afternoon, it was listed as "Whiteness and Critical Race Theory" and then "Whiteness and U.S. Race Theory" by Monday afternoon.
The first class explored Whiteness within the context of critical race theory, he said. The new class will focus only on Whiteness studies.
What the class is about
The fields of ethnic studies and critical race theory emerged in the 1970s after the civil-rights movement of the '60s. Academics and researchers have taught classes and published works on "Whiteness" and the field of "critical Whiteness studies" since the '90s.
“Traditionally in the U.S., or at least in academia, when we talk about race, we talk about communities of color; we talk about African-Americans or Mexican-Americans; we talk about Asians,” Bebout said.
“This class is focused on how White people experience race and how their notions of 'racialization' or experiences of race shape other people’s experiences of race, as well.”
What students will study
“We will look at how Whiteness is manifested in language, social policy and how it gets talked about in a variety of ways. It’s an interdisciplinary approach drawing on philosophy, literary studies" and more, Bebout said.
Last semester, the students’ favorite book was Jane Hill’s “The Everyday Language of White Racism,” he said. For spring, he is also adding Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me,” an acclaimed new release that was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Awards in the non-fiction category.